News & Updates — vintage footage

The original soul sister Rosetta Tharpe was the first secular gospel recording star, a huge influence on rock & roll and an excellent electric guitarist. Whether in church or in a concert hall in front of a big band, she captivated everyone. As a child she barnstormed across the South with her mom and was called a "singing and guitar playing miracle". She cut her first records in '38 with Lucky Millander's orchestra, including "Rock Me". She appeared at the Spirituals To Swing concert that year and played with Cab Calloway's band as well. As bad as it was to...

One of Brasil's most popular singers, Porto Alegre native Elis Regina started her career in '57 and became well-known as a teenager winning song contests and releasing albums. "Arrastão" was a huge hit for her in '65, propelling her to be the most popular singer in the country. She worked with some of the artists involved in the Tropicália movement of the late '60s/early '70s, recording songs by Gilberto Gil and others. (Indeed, she was a vocal critic of the dictatorial regime). She made a landmark bossa nova album (Elis & Tom) with Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim in '75. She...

Here's some birthday recognition to one the most prolific and unsung musicians on the groovy music landscape, master percussionist Ralph MacDonald! Harlem-raised, his father was a musician from Trinidad & Tobago and the calypso and steelpan have always been with him. He played with Harry Belafonte from 17 until his mid 20s (including being the major artistic force behind Belafonte's 1971 Calypso Carnival album). That year he started his own publishing company and hit the big-time the next year with his composition "Where Is The Love" (recorded by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, with Ralph on percussion). It was non-stop...

Here's a birthday shout-out to Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins, the influential blues great from Texas. He played both electric and acoustic guitars, but his first instrument was a home-made cigar-box "guitar" with chicken wire for strings. He was boogieing from the '20s (although didn't record until '46) until the '80s, mostly in Texas until 1960 when he played at Carnegie Hall for an integrated audience for the first time. (Pete Seeger and Joan Baez were also on the bill). In the period between he worked with his cousin Texas Alexander and even played with Blind Lemon Jefferson on at least one...

If you've heard Ethiopian music, the chances are that you've heard the bold tenor saxophone vibrato of Gétatchèw Mèkurya. Ever-present on the recordings of the '60s and '70s, much of which was found on the amazing Ethiopiques series, his career found a larger international audience in his later days with his work with the Dutch anarcho-punk band The Ex, Boston-based creative fusion ensemble Either/Orchestra, the group of Fendika, Indian singer Susheela Raman and others, and his music was sampled by K'Naan and Damian Marley. The native of Yifat, Ethiopia began his studies on the traditional instruments the krar and masenqo...